This program is entitled to helping children to become aware of art. It offers schooling to children wishing to excel in art and also to children of the community. Also, during the summer, the University of Iowa is offering a program for children to learn art during the summer months. This program is supposed to give back to the community and provide for a better understanding in the artistic community. Not only is visual art present, but emotional art such as dancing and poetry reading. Children of Iowa are entitled to learn that art is not only something they view on a canvas or screen but in movement and dance also. Uiowa ArtShare helps to broaden the minds of young people everywhere.

This video from the television series “So You Think You Can Dance” demonstrates the process that choreographers go through in order to make a piece and how to explain and express a concept without words, but with dance. This interpretation is one that describes the struggles that addiction has on a person

Upon a visit to the Special Collections Department in the University of Iowa’s Main Library, I was able to uncover a marvelous book of Civil War letters (Call #: MSC 541 Box #1 and #2) authored by Mr. Charles Thomas Ackley, a Union soldier from Iowa. Reading Ackley’s letters gave me a very realistic look into the life of a typical Union soldier from the rural Midwest.

Ackley was born in Pittsfield, New York on July 23, 1833. In 1855 he moved to Iowa and started a farm near Marble Rock. He was married in 1863 to Elizabeth Thayer (The recipient of his Civil War letters). Later that year Ackley enlisted in Company B of the Seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry of the Union Army. The letters that he sent home to his family in Marble Rock date from January 17, 1864 to July 5, 1865. While he served, Ackley saw intense action and fought in many battles during the war. Although he was not injured, he did contract diseases that hindered him for the rest of his life. He was discharged in July 1865.

While reading Ackley’s letters I found many things to be very interesting. One such aspect I found particularly stunning was his “quite comfortable” living conditions. Through his letters he explained he lived in makeshift barracks with 50 other men. They had a coal stove to keep them warm in the winter months. He slept on bunks with 3 beds on each, spanning about 4 feet wide that had “plenty of straw on them.” I found these conditions to be a little appalling; however, during the time period Ackley seemed very impressed.

Ackley’s personal relationship to his wife and children is another fascinating detail that can be observed. Times of love, distrust, guilt, and even undeserving feelings are scattered bountifully through his many letters. This was a very captivating trail to follow, in my opinion.

In this Video Natasha Trethewey reads her poem Elegy for the Native Guards, however this is a great video because it takes you to the places she talks about in this poem. This way not only can you listen to the poem but you can also see and picture the places that she talks about and visits in Elegy for the Native Guards.

The Digital Studio for Public Humanities is a service provided by The University of Iowa that encourages digital humanities research. You can learn more about The Digital Studio for Public Humanities here. The Digital Studio for Public Humanities is located in the Main Library on the University of Iowa campus but they partner with Public Humanities in a Digital World. You can read all about The Digital Studio for Public Humanities and what they do for the University at both of these links.